The car pulled off the gravel road onto a path through the trees that was no more than two tire tracks among the underbrush. The headlight beams penetrated into the blackness, occasionally reflecting off eyes that vanished just as quickly as they appeared. The car bottomed out in a pothole, sending the driver's head slamming into the roof.

"You're crazy, Mulder, going out here like this in the dead of night." It was his own thought, but somehow the voice in his head sounded strangely like Agent Scully's. He might be crazy, but it was a man crazier still that was luring Mulder out here.

Another pothole brought Moulder's head in contact with the car roof again, threatening to give him a concussion if he continued down this road for much longer. He rubbed his hand over his dark hair and eased his foot off the accelerator; maybe he should turn back. Maybe this guy was really a lunatic. But if that was the case, what was the chest in the back seat of Moulder's car, made of some metal unknown to this planet, and why did he believe this man could explain what it was, and where Agent Scully had vanished to.

As the car slowed to a halt, something caught in the far reaches of the headlights. A blue police box.

The first time Agent Fox Mulder had seen that police box, he barely gave it a second thought. He and Scully had pulled up to a three day old crime scene that had been written off as an accidental fire. After a witness stepped forward, however, and a little more exploration was made into the rubble, the case was handed over to Mulder and Scully as an x-file. There it sat across the street, beside a dumpster. It looked out of place, but his mind was focused on other things.

Moulder held up the crime scene tape for Scully to duck under, and then followed her into the old warehouse. The floor was littered with charred roof beams, except for an area that had been cleared away from a blackened metal box and the chalk outline of a body.

"So, have you had a chance to look at the corpse yet?" Mulder asked as they picked the way towards the clearing.

"Not yet, but the more I see here, the more curious I'm getting about it." Scully knelt beside the outline and dragged a finger through the ash around it. "So it was an explosion that started the fire?"

"Not exactly. What the witness described was a noiseless, red flash that shattered all windows in a one block radius, and then ignited a fire in this building only."

"And who was this witness?"

"That would be me."

The two FBI agents turned at the voice. A man stepped through the door from outside, dressed in a green striped shirt with the cuffs rolled up, and faded jeans. His curly, light brown hair was pulled back into a short ponytail and he walked with a confident ease over to where Mulder and Scully were standing.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor," he said with a soft British accent, extending a hand out.

"I'm Agent Mulder," Mulder replied, shaking the man's hand, "And this is my partner, Agent Scully. We're with the-"

"FBI, yes I know. I think you'll find that you're ill prepared for this matter though," the Doctor said, after shaking Scully's hand.

"There isn't much we haven't seen, Doctor..." Scully paused for him to finish her sentence.

"Just the Doctor," the Doctor answered with a slight smile. He took step around the chest, surveying it with a furrowed brow. "What a shame," he murmured, then crouched and reached out a hand.

"Please sir, I have to ask you not to touch it," Scully said quickly. The Doctor looked up at her sharply for a moment, then nodded.

"I'm sorry, I'm forgetting myself. She certainly was a remarkable woman, never would give up on something, even if it...killed her." The Doctor shook his head sadly.

"You knew this woman, Doctor?" Moulder inquired, resting a hand on his hip.

"Yes."

"What were you doing here that night?" Scully's eyes narrowed.

"I was trying to stop her."

"Yet you were unharmed by the fire?"

"When I saw there was no way to change her mind, I made sure no one else would be harmed by her foolhardy decision. I don't think she expected the outcome to go like this though."

"What was she trying to do?" Mulder asked.

"Open the box."

Mulder and Scully exchanged skeptical looks.

The Doctor stood off to the side as Mulder and Scully finished looking around the interior. As they walked to the door together, Scully said, "I'm anxious to get to the morgue and examine this woman's body. How about you Mulder, are you ready to head back?"

"I think I'd like to look around some more, but you can go ahead. I'll catch a taxi."

"Suit yourself." Scully walked over to the car and the two men watched as she drove off.

"She's certainly going to have an interesting examination." The Doctor commented.

"Why do you say that?"

"Has she ever done an autopsy on a Time Lord before?"

"A what?"

"The anatomy isn't that different at first glance, except for the two hearts."

Mulder turned wide eyed to the Doctor. "What are you talking about?"

"That woman who died in there," the Doctor pointed inside the warehouse, "She was called the Rani, and she was of the race of Time Lords from the planet Gallifrey. The reason I know this, is because I'm a Time Lord also...why am I saying all this? You don't believe me."

Moulder put a hand out as the Doctor turned to leave. "No, keep talking."

"You don't think I'm daft."

"Finish your story, then let me decide."

"All right," the shadow of a smile played around his lips as the Doctor replied slowly. "The Rani brought that chest in there from a distant galaxy."

"Why did she bring it to earth?"

Mulder's question was only answered by an unsettling silence from the Doctor, so Mulder tried a different question.

"How did she get it here? The report says the chest is immovable."

The Doctor perked up. "Oh, it can be moved, if one has the has the right knowledge."

"And, you have this knowledge?"

"I do. I'll give it to you, and let you take the chest where you do your testing. And when you don't find anything, as you won't, bring the box to this location," the Doctor handed Mulder a slip of paper, "And I'll tell you what I know of it."

As soon as the Doctor left, Mulder hurried back into the warehouse. He crouched beside the box, positioning his fingers on opposite sides as instructed. After a moment, there was a click and the box levitated a few inches off the ground. He fell back in surprise, and then scrambled away further as the box began to spin; kicking up the surrounding dust and ash into a whirling cloud around it. Mulder shielded his eyes, his whole body tense as he waited for what it would do next.

What was it doing, anyway? Had he just armed it to explode? Maybe the Doctor was working in cahoots with this Rani woman, and sending Mulder to finish the job would assure there would be no witnesses.

The dust began to settle as the box slowed it's spinning and remained floating in the air. It had shrunk to half it's original size and was now motionless.

Mulder got to his feet, brushing the ash from his clothes. There was a layer of grey film over all of him, and when he ran his hands over his face, they came back filthy. Just great.

He took a tentative step towards the box and took hold of it. He lifted it higher at arms length, with such ease the box seemed to have no weight at all. Letting out a slow breath, he lowered the box back down and then stepped back to figure out what to do next.

Scully adjusted her rubber gloves and hit the tape recorder button on the table beside her.

"Victim is female, age unknown. Body sustained major damage from fire, and-" a sound in the hall broke her concentration. She looked over her shoulder toward the door, and after the noise swelled to cacophony of mechanical grinding and squealing, then faded off, footsteps came down the hall towards her.

"Agent Scully, wasn't it?" The man said, closing the door behind himself. It was the man from the crime scene, but gone were the jeans and ponytail. He was now dressed in a long, dark green coat and boots that laced up to his knees. The outfit had an antiquated air about it, which was even more the impression when the man pulled out a pocket watch from the front pocket of his vest.

"I should have given you more time. You might have had more questions for me about the body, but I can see you've hardly started."

"Well, I do have one question for you, Doctor. How did you get in here?"

The Doctor just smiled, and then stepped up to the table where the charred body lay. Then his expression was exchanged for one of deep sorrow.

"Another soul lost to the war," he murmured.

"Excuse me?"

The Doctor looked up and met Scully's gaze. "Oh, nothing. I'm here for you, to lend a hand, as it were."

"So you're a medical doctor?"

"No, but I believe I can be of assistance in your investigation, and maybe you can help in mine."

Scully tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear, studying this strange man. It was her first inclination to trust him, but when had she ever based a decision on feelings alone? There was much more to him then he was saying.

"Well, I guess there wouldn't be any harm in you staying for the autopsy, as long as you keep out of the way."

"Of course." The Doctor clasped his hands behind his back and stepped away from the table.

With a frustrated sigh, Scully realized that she forgot to pause the tape recorder, and it had captured their entire conversation. Oh well, nothing could be done about it now.

As Scully went about the first steps of the examination, she could see the Doctor out of the corner of her eye, walking about the room.

It was almost amusing to the Doctor to see the equipment in the lap. So many advances had brought humans to this point in technology, yet they still knew so little. The ponderous computer monitor on the desk to the far wall blipped a message- white text on a background of blue. Even within the next decade, science would jump beyond that into flat screens and computer processors that could fit in the palm of one's hand.

A quick intake of breath turned him on his heels to see what Agent Scully had found.

"The victim appears to have two hearts."

"Rather classic tell of a Time Lord," the Doctor said, coming up behind her.

Skully frowned over her shoulder at him. "What is a Time Lord?"

"I've already briefly explained to your partner, Agent Mulder, but I can see you might need a little more explanation to believe me. It'd be better to wait until you've finished your task."

"You aren't just avoiding my question?"

"Oh no, I'll answer all the questions I can, just not yet."